Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The other thing I did this weekend was go on an excellent run at the Crystal Springs reservoir. It's my favorite place to run for a number of reasons:

It's a 12 mile course, 6 miles out and back. 12 miles is a pretty good distance for a long Saturday run for me. Short enough to allow me to complete my other weekend activities unexhausted, but long enough to make me regret being born with legs.

The course is fairly scenic. Some parts of the trail are completely shaded by branches that meet from trees on opposing sides of the pathway. Mostly I don't notice it because I'm busy regretting that leg thing, but every once in a while I look around and appreciate it.

There's one good-sized hill and it peaks right near the turn-around point at the 6 mile marker. It's nice to be halfway done and know that the only slope ahead of you is a downhill one.

The course is marked every half mile. For people like me who are anal-retentive about time and their running pace, this is both heavenly and punishing.

After I finished my run I saw students from a local college completing a 3-mile time trial. They clocked in around 15 minutes, which means that they were averaging about 5 minutes per mile. It always astounds me when I hear about people running that fast for that far (or longer!). I've been running semi-seriously for the better part of a decade and I think I'd only be able to keep up that kind of pace for about 1/4 of a mile.

They all looked super fit though. All of the guys ran with their shirts off and they looked like anatomy models. One guy had that perfect V-shape that men are supposed to have, but you never see in real life (or at least I never see in the mirror). And if I wasn't impressed by the speed by which he ran by me, I surely was impressed by the flames he had tattooed on his pectoral muscles.

A flame tattoo! On his pecs! At first glance I didn't know whether to douse his chest with my gatorade or just scream "FIRE!" into his bellybutton. Thankfully I'm unable to make decisions like that in the split second in which he ran by, so I did nothing. Slow-witted-ness has its occasional advantages.

And totally unrelated, I went to a PTA meeting tonight. I so want to make smarmy comments about the PTA, but I'm unable. The leaders pretty much seem to be a smart and caring group of folks and I can't quite muster the cynicism to mock them. I'll get there, but I'm not there yet. Bear with me.

5 comments:

That is why I hate going to the park, all those healthy people, running in little shorts, exposing muscles and lean flesh, and it makes me want to curse them, yes, curse them right then and right there, but I don't, i just shake my head because I know the sad punchline to one of life's unpleasant jokes. So, instead, I close my eyes and remember when I ran and how I never saw anything unpleasant, only the trees whiz by and at the end of my run, I stood there, jogging in place for a little more time and then left the trail, feeling good that I did my run and didn't fall on my ass or sprain my ankle or felt the sting of a bee. Yep, those were the good ole days.